Month: December 2020

Malachi 3:1-4:6, Revelation 22:1-21, Psalms 150:1-6, Proverbs 31:25-31

Today is the 31^st day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy as it always is to be here with you today. December 31^st is a joyous day to arrive at indeed. It’s a bit of a melancholy day. It’s like, we made it. Like, O we made it. This is…this is it. We’re gonna read the last pages all the way to the last words of the Bible and it was a year ago that we started this journey together. And we indeed shared one of the more interesting years of anyone alive today. So, I think we could say God has been faithful. We are here. We have arrived almost…almost to our destination. So, let’s dive in for our final reading of the year as we conclude the Bible together. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Malachi chapters 3 and 4.

Prayer:

Father…Father thank You. Thank You for bringing us back through again. Another year of life, another year on this planet, another year day by day step-by-step through the Scriptures. And we are here. We are here because You have been faithful to us and we are grateful for all that You have done in our lives over the last…over the last entire year, including a leap day, an extra day. Thank You. Thank You. There were times we didn’t know if we were gonna make it. We didn’t know if we’d be able to cope. We didn’t know if we were gonna be able to manage the title waves…the tsunamis of issues that just kewp sweeping over us and You are faithful. You always are. It’s just so often that we don’t realize that until we can look back. In the moment we’re always wondering where You went. When You’re carrying us, when You’re supporting and sustaining us, when You’re pulling us forward so that we can arrive at a place of hindsight and look back and say, “yes. I could not have done this if the Lord had not carried me but he did carry me and I am here.” And this is where we are. And, so, Father for these 15 years I am grateful for these 5478 days in row that we’ve been together as a community seeking to…to allow the Bible to speak for itself. I am grateful for the eyes to see and ears to hear that You give us as we need it when we need it. I’m grateful for everyone who’s ever been here, who’s ever…who spent a day or a week or a month or a decade. I am grateful. Thank You, God for my brothers and sisters. This could’ve never happened or existed if we hadn’t been in it together all along. So, I am grateful. And as we leave this time, yes, we will start over tomorrow, but we’re marking this and we’re letting it be what it is, a moment of tremendous reflection, a moment that could not exist were it not for Your faithfulness. So, there’s nowhere to go but forward. And, so, we do. We go forward reaching for You and reaching back to one another. I pray Your blessing most-high God over this entire community in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Announcements:

And that’s it, friends. 15 years. I don’t even know what to do with that. I…I mean we get to December 31^st and conclude a year together and every time that happens, I know it’s coming, I know I’m working through the last week of the year and feeling the melancholy of it all, the anticipation of a new year, but also giving honor the fact that a journey is coming to a close. And we have read the whole Bible together, all of it - every chapter, every verse, every book, everything. So, now…like if you’re using th pp…now you have all the badges. You have achieved a year in the Scriptures. You’ve read the whole Bible. Well done. Well done. We did it. We did it in a year that gave us every excuse to bail. We did it. We did it in tough year and it will lead us forward and it gave us the nourishment in our spirits that we needed to just keep going and we kept going and we’re here. Well done. I realize the thing that makes this melancholy for me, the thing that’s hard about all this is I know tomorrow will come and we will start a brand-new journey. And, so, on that level I can say it will be the same as today, but it won’t though because I’ve done this 15 times. We’re bringing to close a journey in a community, and we will start over tomorrow and many, many, many, many, many of us will be here along for the ride and we’ll just keep going together, but I also know that this is goodbye. This is goodbye and I hate it even though I know that God is leading some of you in all kinds of new and exciting directions. And I know that tomorrow there will be thousands of people who have never been here before getting on board to take the journey across a year together and through the Bible together. But I’ve never really been super fond of sad goodbyes and in fact I’ve determined there aren’t goodbyes anymore in the Daily Audio Bible. It’s just “until we meet again’s”. And, so, for any of you who are moving in other directions as you have your New Year’s resolutions and you’ve completed this objective and you’ve read the whole Bible and you’re…you’re going into the new year then I am so thankful, so grateful that we could share a year together. And I say to you, until we meet again. And for as long as I can, as long as God allows, I’ll be here reading aloud the Bible for anyone who will listen to it anywhere on this planet any time of day or night. Don’t be a stranger. And for everyone who will flip the page into a new year and we will set sail again, I have a great anticipation for that. I have great anticipation for next year, a year when we will mend and we will look at mending, knitting things back together, restoring things in the Bible because I think that’s what this next year’s gonna represent around the world and in this community - a time to mend. And healing is so beautiful when its together. God has indeed given us each other, a family, each other, the family of God, brothers and sisters. And I am so grateful for you. The words fail. I guess I’m kind of at the point where I don’t want to stop talking so I can just keep talking, but at some point…at some point we have to acknowledge the fact that we have concluded our journey for the year 2020. We have read through the Bible together. We have moved through a year of life together. We are still here together. And I am grateful that we have been together.

And I pray, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift his countenance upon you and give you peace. May the strength of God go with you. May the wisdom of God instruct you. May the hand of God protect you. May the word of God direct you. May you be sealed in Christ this day and forevermore. Amen.

I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here next year.

Malachi 1:1-2:17, Revelation 21:1-27, Psalms 149:1-9, Proverbs 31:10-24

Today is the 30^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible…I can’t even believe it, 30^th day of December, here we are though, the 30^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you in our…in a space that we have created together and that we know well, our place around the Global Campfire. And we have made quite a journey and we have only a couple of steps left to go before we complete this journey. And we concluded the book of Zechariah yesterday, which leads us to the final book that we will encounter in the Bible, the final book of the Old Testament. It’s called Malachi

Introduction to the book of Malachi:

So, it’s the last book of the Old Testament, it’s also the last book of the grouping of books that we’re in right now known as the minor prophets. So, tomorrow’s the last day of the year and we’re going to be completing Malachi and Revelation. And, so, we will be completing the old and the new Testaments and getting all of our badges in the app for completing the Bible and for completing the minor prophets and for completing the apocalyptic literature in the New Testament. So, yeah, we are we…are right on the threshold. But anyway, Malachi this word or this name, Malachi means “my messenger”. And, so, there have been scholars that have debated, like is that the title of the book because it…it…it is…is the book a prophetic book that’s called my messenger or is the book bearing the name of the author and is the author a prophet named Malachi? And we’ve talked about all these kinds of things, about many, many different books of the Bible just giving us the nuances of where they sit. The tradition views that Malachi is the name of the prophet who gives this prophetic utterance, and he would probably have been contemporary with Ezra and Nehemiah. It’s just that Malachi is not mentioned anywhere…anywhere outside of Malachi. So, don’t really have a lot of information like a lot of these prophets. Malachi would’ve lived, probably 100 years after the Persians defeated the Babylonians and the Hebrews began to have like little waves of return from exile to their homeland. It would’ve been about 50 years since the temple was rebuilt. And we remember moving through Haggai and Zechariah and this was a focus, the rebuilding of the temple. So, like a half-century past all of that. But these promises of being restored and being prominent and being recognized in the world and being respected in the world, these had not been fulfilled. The people were indeed restored to their ancient homeland, but they were not restored in any way to the glory of their former days. And, so, they were…well…they were just living, existing, discouraged in a distant region of the Persian Empire. And, so, because…yeah…things were not taking off they had become discouraged and had become disinterested. Their passion for God was fading away. And, so, when that happens, then all kinds of things. Morality declines, spirituality declines, society declines. So, we’ll…one of the things we’ll see in Malachi, sacrifices to God were supposed to be spotless and without blemish, but they were using blind and blemished animals for sacrifice. So, the law that they were to obey was becoming more and more irrelevant. And, so, Malachi steps into that situation with the words that we’ll read over the next couple of days. And he’s probably the last prophet of the Old Testament age. And his prophetic voice is like many of the other prophetic voices, “come back to me, return to me, come home. Return.” And as it turns out this message would be the final prophetic message for 400 years, the Old Testament era would end and a New Testament era would begin and a new prophet would rise and his name was John, John the Baptist. And the irony is, we will complete this year, but then January 1^st we’ll start this journey all over again and sail it again and we will be hearing plenty about this new profit John the Baptist in mere days once we get on the other side of the year. And, so, let’s begin. Malachi chapters 1 and 2. And we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we began the book of Malachi and the mirror into our own soul goes up pretty quickly. We hear these words, “a son honors his father, and his servant respects his master. If I am your father and master where are the honor and respect I deserve?” Throughout our year to together we have been in no uncertain terms counseled and taught and educated that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that the respect and awe of God is…is where everything begins. Acknowledging God in all that we are, giving Him all that we are, loving the Lord our God with all are - heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves - these themes are throughout the entire Bible. What’s happening here in Malachi is conversation with people asking questions and God is asking questions and answers are being given and…and then God presses into how this disrespect has come to be. And it gives the example of how they are giving blemished animals and sacrifice. And we can wax over and go, “well, I’m not giving that because I don’t give bulls and goats and sheep and stuff. Like, we don’t do that stuff anymore.” But as we’ve learned, there's…there’s the letter of the law, right? There’s…there’s what’s written and then there’s the reason for it, the spirit of it, and the spirit of the law. And what God is addressing here is “you are giving your leftovers to me. You are giving the things you don’t want or that are less valuable to you. You are giving them to me. So, you are pacifying yourself by still participating in rituals, but the spirit of it, the reason for it was to bring me your best. In every conceivable absolute way of life, you are to acknowledge me. Like, this is the way to live, understanding that everything you have has come from me. So, you give your best not your second-best, not your leftovers.” And friends, tomorrow’s the last day of the year. So, day after tomorrow it’s gonna be a new year and we’re gonna start over and we’re gonna go into the new year with our resolutions. And we’ve even talked about a number of ways of looking at that in this in between week, even just looking at what the Bible is telling us and pulling out things from there to just inform the posture of our heart as we’re making our New Year’s resolutions. And we became clear. We can be self-focused, certainly about our resolutions, but if there’s no outward look, outward view, then it’s incomplete. God has withheld nothing from us. He has invited us into a covenantal relationship, right? And it's…it's…it’s described in marital terms on a number of occasions in the Bible to bring it close to home so we can understand the depth, the level they we’re talking about here. Essentially, the story of the Bible is God saying, “I will give you everything I have in exchange for all that you are. Give yourself back to me fully and watch what I will do.” Of the many biblical new year’s resolutions that we could come up with…I don't…is there a greater one in this – “give yourself fully to God. Put all of your hope in His unfailing love. Become the delight of your Father in the new year.” No longer a compartment, no longer an obligation, no longer a set of rituals or customs. That we give our best and our all first and foremost to God acknowledging Him in all things. It’s the way we’re supposed to live. So, maybe we should. Maybe we should. Maybe we should consciously become aware of His presence in every situation in everything and give ourselves, our best to Him by acknowledging that we are here to be His servants, we are here to be His hands and feet. We are here to do the work of God, to be the representatives, the ambassadors of God in a world that is going dark. And the more the darkness rages the more the light is needed. And we are that. And that light, as we have learned in the Bible this year, isn’t about what we say. It’s about how we live. It’s about what we do, how we live what we do, how we are, how we have our being, how we be in this world is the truth not what we say. But when we say things that we are do…like when our words…when our words and deeds are in alignment with each other, then we are true. When our words and deeds are in alignment each other and with God’s will, then we are being exactly how we are supposed to be in this world, and we are being a light, our lives are the light. This is the way forward. We have to go forward. All year we’ve asked for eyes to see and ears to hear. All year we’ve asked the Holy Spirit to lead us on the narrow path that leads to life. May we press into that with all of our hearts as we go into this new year, wholeheartedly devoted, wholeheartedly given to our Creator to our Father.

Prayer:

Father, that is…that's…that’s what we desire. It’s just…we don't…we don’t know what we’re talking about most of the time. We…we know that we are to be devoted and to aim our hearts in Your direction, but what this boils down to more than anything is that we aren’t asleep, is that we are awake and aware and alert, that we are paying attention, that we become in the habit of first paying attention to look at what’s going on behind what’s presented, to seek Your Holy Spirit in everything so that we really do operate as You did on this earth Jesus, that we operate and look like You did as You navigated and operated on earth. And we acknowledge once again, we are going to fail. In our own strength we will not get past the first week. And, so, it’s important that we acknowledge You, that we are aware, that we are submitted, that we humble ourselves before You as we go forward. And we’re gonna need Your help Holy Spirit. This world does everything it can possibly do to demand every conscious moment. And the second that we start letting go of that, very very quickly we start feeling like everything is going to pass us by. And that feels like we’re gonna miss out and it feels like we’re going to become irrelevant and it feels like the whole world is moving forward without us and You’re just kind of like, “finally. Finally, You got off that train. Finally, we can enjoy life together. All that other stuff was nothing but smoke and mirrors. It was false to begin with. That’s not life. That’s running all of Your years on a treadmill trying to achieve something that doesn’t really matter. What ultimately will matter is that You knew us, and we knew You and we want that, deeply. So, come Holy Spirit as we surrender ourselves as we move with all of our hope in You toward the new year. Come Jesus we pray. In Your mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com it’s home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here in the community. So, be sure to check out. Stay tuned and stay connected.

The app is also a portal into community. The things that are accessible on the website are accessible in the app as well. So, check out like the Community section. That gives us the links to where we…where we live and communicate on social media. All the different social media links are there. The Prayer Wall lives in the Community section and that is…well…every single one of us should be aware about that because that is a place to always no matter what time it is and no matter what’s going on, reach out, reach out for prayer. And then as that request gets out there and around then people from all over the world have the ability to respond and request prayers of their own. So, definitely check out the Prayer Wall.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, especially in the year 2020 then that’s today and tomorrow and thank you humbly and deeply, graciously. Truly, thank you for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. And, so, as we prepare to bring to conclusion a year that I doubt we will ever forget, thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, is that is your preference, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174. And, as I was mentioning yesterday, if…if you want to use the mail and you want to tax deductible receipt for 2020 then just make sure that…that is postmarked no later than December 31^st.

And that is it for today, I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey DAB family its Dr. John from Jordan New York. Val from Vegas. Just loved your phone call. And when you said “you won’t understand how I feel” and I’m gonna beg to differ here. I think most of us really do understand the love that is poured out through this community to each of us in individual ways, whether we hear the…the praise reports or whether we’re personally recipients of the prayer power that this community provides. And, so, yeah, I…I do kind of understand how you feel about just what this community does for everyone. I do have a prayer request for everybody. This is to pray for the hospital workers. My wife is a physical therapist in the ICU for Covid patients and their losing patients…patients are dying every day. Patients she was working with last week are dying this week. And the morale is really, really bad. And for the nurses, for the physical therapists, for the respiratory therapists, for the doctors, the intensivists, it’s just awful. This crisis is much worse this time around compared to the first time. A lot of hospitals maybe 30% at the first wave. This second wave we’re…one of the hospitals is over 95%. So, please pray for all of the healthcare workers are having to deal with the Covid and give them strength and courage and peace as they as they provide for this awful disease. Thank you. Love you all.

Daily Audio Bible family this Alfio calling from Central Valley California. How are you? I hope that everybody had a great Christmas. May we continue to remember the reason for the season. I know how much this year has been very challenging to each one of us. Each one of us has struggled through this year. I know that probably a lot of things did not go the way we envisioned 2020 to go but God is still on the throne. I just want to wish each one of you a great happy New Year. May the new year bear new gifts, visions, new talents and gifts and new purposes and may the Father in heaven bless each one of you. Personally, I’m so grateful each one of you for this family for the dedication for your prayers and your praises and the testimonies. They really do give us hope. They really do. And as we continue to hold each other together up in prayer I’m asking for prayers for myself. God is on the throne and I’m praying that He might just continue to help me. Internally I’m having a…a…a void, a struggle and I know that only God, only God can fill it. So, please family pray for me. Pray for me. Make it a great day. Alfio calling from Central Valley California.

Hello this is Candace from Oregon bringing all of you my greetings. I especially want to warmly welcome any new listeners and those of you who are committing to listen in now for 2021. May the Lord bless and keep you, our Lord who proves Himself faithful and true, gracious to us even when we have been graceless, that He will transform our hearts and use His word to do this. Thank you, Brian Hardin and may the Lord bless and keep you throughout 2021 as all of us mend together. And thank You Holy Spirit for that word, mend, and just the power of that single word and all that you…all the meaning that You Lord have behind it. I want to thank people who have prayed for my son Micah, he’s really doing well, extremely well. I…I wouldn’t even know where to begin to tell you about this but pray that nothing gets in the way of his continued growth toward walking with the Lord. Thank You Lord for everything that You’re doing. We love You Jesus. Candace from Oregon.

Happy new year everyone. Hi, everyone it’s TooToo a.k.a. TBT it’s his precious seeing one. I just wanted to say happy new year to everyone. I love you guys so, so much. I was listening to the Christmas party and honestly, it’s just brought tears to my eyes because I’ve net never met any of you, but you guys feel like family to me and I just love that. I love that we can connect with Christ. I love that we have Brian’s commentary. I…I just love everything about it. So, happy new year everyone. Hello to all the old DABbers. Welcome, welcome to all the new DABbers. And I pray that this year you will start strong, you will continue strong, and you will finish strong. I pray that in everything you do that you will be the hands and feet of Jesus on earth. I pray that God will bless you. I pray that He will lavish His love upon you. I pray that your heart will be a dwelling place for His spirit. And I pray that in everything you would give thanks because that’s what the Bible instructs us to do, give thanks in every situation, every circumstance and through it all. I’m so happy to be part of the DAB family. This is my third year and by God’s grace I will keep going on. So, yeah, so just happy new year to everyone. I love you all so much. I may not see you, but I hear you and I love you.

Hey everyone, this is Valerie from Arizona it is December 29^th 11:30 in the morning and I am officially completely 100% caught up on all of the DAB podcasts for the year. I can’t believe I made it this far and I caught up with everybody. I started listening in June and like I said before I’ve been kind of living in the past, but I am just so thankful for the Hardin family and everything that this community stands for. I feel so incredibly blessed to have found this platform and I’m just so, so looking forward to the new year. So, thank you for everyone who prayed for me in the past to keep on keepin’ on. And I just…I’m really looking forward to a new year and hopefully I will continue to listen every day. Now that I’m caught up, I’m gonna be able to listen to, I think the Chronicles, so I’ll get to know Jill and then I will also be able to listen to the community prayers. So, I’m gonna have so much…just…joy every day listening. And thank you everyone in advance for everything. And this has just been a blessing and I couldn’t be more thankful. So, Merry Christmas everyone. Happy new year and we’ll talk soon.

Zechariah 14:1-21, Revelation 20:1-15, Psalms 148:1-14, Proverbs 31:8-9

Today is the 29^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy it is an honor it is a privilege to be here with you today as we come around the Global Campfire, settle in for the next step forward. Obviously, the steps forward are only a couple. Today we will conclude the second to the last book in the Old Testament. We’ve been reading from the book of Zechariah for the last several days. Tomorrow we will enter into the book of Malachi, which is the final book in the Old Testament, and it will be the final book that we engage with this year. Of course, that’s tomorrow, that’s not now. That’s what’s in the future. We are here in the book of Zechariah and today we will read the final chapter of Zechariah, chapter 14. And we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we navigate between the holidays between Christmas and New Year’s day and then start a new journey on New Year’s day into a brand-new year together, I think we were talking about it yesterday…just…we get contemplative. We start thinking about…we start thinking about the new year and what it’s gonna look like and what’s gonna happen and what we’re gonna do, what our goals are, and that’s where New Year’s resolutions come from. And they’re great. That’s good. It’s important. It’s just important to pay attention to where the focus is. Most of our New Year’s resolutions are self-focused, because we need to work on ourselves and that’s fine but if that’s all there is, if there is nothing outwardly focused then we’re only focusing on ourselves. And it was the Psalms yesterday that was encouraging us. “The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put all of their hope in his unfailing love.” And, so, just talking it through yesterday. It was…like it was put this at the top of our New Year’s resolution list. What…what would be like if the goal is to become the Lord’s delight? What would it look like if the resolution was to put all of our hope in his unfailing love next year? We can have the “lose 20 pounds” and “get in shape” and all of the other kind of stuff that we have but what if that was at the top of the list, that we do is roll out of bed every morning and become aware of His presence and put all of our hope in His unfailing love as move through the day? That could change the year in a hurry. Today, today is outward focused as well, if we’re just looking into the Scriptures for things that might point the way and escort us into the new year then one of the places that we’ve turned often and from the beginning of our journey through the Bible is the Proverbs, the voice of wisdom coming from the Proverbs. And, so, this is what the voice of wisdom coming from the Proverbs said in our reading today. “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless and see that they get justice.” And I think that is…is so in line with the teachings of Jesus that we as believers we can…can look at these words and say, “yes, I agree with that.” It gets really hijacked in…into a political arena really quickly when we start talking about how. Ironically, like the Proverbs doesn't…it doesn’t say like this is where your vote should be or, you know, this is where your…your prayers should be. The voice of wisdom seems to be giving advice, giving wisdom that is actionable for everybody. “Speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.” That’s something to do. “Ensure justice for those being crushed.” That’s something to do. “Speak up for the poor and helpless and see that they get justice.” That’s something to do. And I mean, we’re not too far removed from a pretty volatile political environment that we had throughout this year and we’re…I mean I don’t even know if we’re really removed. We’re like still kind of moving through. And the proverb is talking about justice in society or what we would more politically call social justice. And that’s just like these buzzwords. They just immediately take us away from our own personal responsibility or are at least own personal awareness of what the Bible is saying. And we might think, “gosh, can we just…can we be done with politics for a while?” We certainly can and should. The Bible’s not making a political statement. That’s the thing. The Bible’s not being political it’s being human. It’s showing human beings how they should behave and care for and live among other human beings. And this matters as we go into the new year because we have almost completed the entire Bible. How many times has it been that we have heard that God is a just God? How many times have we seen this sentiment, that this is His desire, justice is His desire, that he is just? So, we can just go, “well…God is just and He’s just gonna bring justice and I’m gonna watch it happen.” Or what we can understand what the Bible has been telling us the whole year, the same Spirit, the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead indwells us. That God’s Spirit inside of us. And if God is a just God and we are dying to ourselves so that it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us, then we have to pay attention to the things that God cares about because those are the things we are being transformed into. We’re supposed to be in action here. We’re supposed to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth, the hands and feet of Jesus. Like, it’s our hands on behalf of God, the Spirit of God within us that can bring these blessings to the earth, blessings to the poor and helpless, justice to those who have no voice, revealing God’s kingdom that Jesus claimed. And I believe it. I think you believe it…that Jesus claimed was here and among us and within us, that we’re not waiting for something to happen. We are the thing that’s supposed to happen. We are a part of an ongoing story, revealing the kingdom of God as we wait for his return and the fullness of the kingdom to be made perfect. So, as we approach a new year it's…it’s worth taking like several giant steps back away from all of the rhetoric and just inviting the Holy Spirit to show us what that means for us not for everybody else, not what everybody else is supposed to be doing and not what all…every leader is supposed to be doing, what we are supposed to be doing.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that because change that happens on a macro level begins with change that happens on a microlevel. It…for things to change around us, things have to change within us. And we can’t change ourselves. We’ve…we tried all kinds of things and we can…we can get a little bit down the road but without Your transformative power in our lives we’re not gonna get very far. But You are utterly sanctifying us, setting us apart is holy. You…You are transforming us into Your likeness. And we are sorry for the ways that we have fought You on this. So, come Holy Spirit and plant these words from Proverbs in our lives today and let them be something that we contemplate and think about, meditate upon, carry with us into the new year. Come Jesus we pray. In Your mighty name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on in a virtual community like this one. And there’s usually something or another going on.

And we are definitely preparing to flip over and have a fresh new beginning to a fresh brand-new year. And, so, we’re getting ready for that indeed. And welcome to all who are here in the in-between, this week between Christmas and New Year’s where, yeah, we’re thinking some of the deeper thoughts. Maybe we have some time off work and we can just begin to feel our soul again inside of us. Like it’s been a crazy. And, so, this little bit of downtime gives us some time to think that maybe it’s time for some changes and maybe spirituality is a place to start and maybe the Bible would be a good place to start. Welcome. We’re gonna go on an adventure that’s epic and that is an understatement. So, yeah, we’re getting’ ready to set sail again, but we who have been here throughout this entire year of 2020 together, learning to endure a lot of things and observe a lot of things, we’re here finishing, finishing strong, finishing well that we might begin strong and well in the new year. So, yeah, no matter whether you’ve been here all year or whether you’re just kinda check…checkin’ in and getting’ ready for the new year, be aware.

Be aware of the website, dailyaudiobible.com. All of the things at the website can pretty much be accessed in the Daily Audio Bible app. And the Daily Audio Bible app can be gotten wherever you get apps, you know, like the Apple App Store, or the Android app…app store. Wherever you get apps search for Daily Audio Bible, and download that app. It’s free and it really is hand in glove with the experience of going through the Scriptures, is definitely the best experience as we move through the Scriptures. And in this coming year will…will grow to be even better as we never stop…we never stop developing and making it the portal into the community that we share together. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these final days of this year then I thank you humbly, deeply, profoundly. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174. And I would say if you want that receipt, like a tax-deductible receipt for 2020 just make sure that’s postmarked by the 31^st of December. Those of the rules that we have been given. And I thank you for your partnership.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the red button up at the top, you can’t miss it. Press that and you share from anywhere in the world, or you can dial 877-942-4253. That’s the number for the Americas. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to dial. And if you are in Australia or the lands down under 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB family this is Vonnie in Northern California. This morning, it’s the Christmas eve eve and listening to all the wonderful prayers and encouragement, words of encouragement and hope given to Quiet Confidence over and over. And my heart is just so full of gratitude for the body of Christ, for gratitude…with gratitude for the way that the family of God just rallies around. God is using the family to…to fulfill His promises to draw near to the brokenhearted. And I am just…I’m just so grateful for the body of Christ. I can’t even tell you. I’m so thankful for this podcast. I’m so thankful for the Hardin family and…and for all of you who call in, all of you who from all over the world it…just…it…where the Lord’s hands and feet and mouthpieces for blessing and encouragement and hope. I…I just want to say thank you and I want to say thank you Lord for the way that you work through your people. Thank you so much God. May everyone have a wonderful Christmas and new year and let’s keep…keep it up everybody. Thank you so much for…

Good morning Daily Audio Bible community with Brian Hardin at six…close to seven…I don’t remember exactly what time it is in the morning central time December 23^rd 2020. I don’t know Brian. How can you bring this so succinctly? What does it matter about any gifts or non-gifts? People get sorrowful at Christmas time because they had such horrible Christmases, depression. I say shalom shalom everybody. Shalom shalom. Jesus came to us. Emmanuel came to us. Shalom. Pretty soon we’re going to celebrate His birth. And I…I want to hang in there. In two days, shalom. Whatever it is, shalom. Peace on earth goodwill toward men. Hallelujah. Thank you, Brian for bringing us. There is no way, no way we can thank Jesus enough for His gift to be with us. [singing starts] Emmanuel Emmanuel [singing stops]. Shalom shalom. I love you.

Hi this is Galena from Atlanta I just heard a praise report from Alina the Jesus Worshiper and I’m so thankful for this answered prayer. I’ve been praying for you Alina. I remember you welcomed me to DAB community back in June and you suggested that we would pray for one another and I’ve been praying for you and I’m so glad that God answered these prayers. I’m thankful for this community, that we can pray for one another. I’m still single but you know what when Brian was reading about Rebecca earlier this year, I just had this vision that this is what God wanted me to be, just to be where I am not to be looking for any one but just stay by the well and just serve the living waters to whoever comes. And, you know, a few weeks after a friend of mine called and said that she saw camels in her things and that they were…there were camels in each room in my house. And I haven’t shared that vision with anybody. So, I’ve just got to believe that God is bringing something good and big into my life this coming year. So thankful everybody. Just pray for me. I know this can be hard for people who are single, this time of the year. So, Merry Christmas everybody. Thank you.

This is Deborah. I call myself Sheltered in Maine because I usually think I am but not today. It’s the 23^rd of December actually no it’s the 24^th and I have to put my mini–American Eskimo down this morning. She’s almost 12. And it’s not that I don’t see life passes stages by stages. It’s just that she’s been the closest thing to me for the last 12 years almost through all these things that I’ve been through, which they’re all okay now. But she was there through all the upheaval. And tomorrow…well no…sorry…today…I have to say goodbye and it grieves me and I love her and I’m so sorry that she has to go. Just wanted to share that with you because I know that you understand that. God is still so omnipresent even in this time and I’m grateful…I’m grateful for her and I’m really extraordinarily grateful for Him. Love you all. Blessings. Merry Christmas.

Good morning DAB family this is Eyes of a Dove in Snoqualmie Washington and I’m driving on the freeway at five in the morning and I gotta tell you guys, the Lord saved my life. I mean coffee in one hand and steering with the left hand and there’s a couple of spinouts because of the, I guess, black ice on the freeway. And right before my incident happened because the road looked dry, you know. I was thinking why did they spin out? Were they on their phones? And then I had this thought of…like…I saw this scene of me dying in this reck and I wouldn’t be able to see my kids or my Billy and I just asked the Lord to protect me and then right then I hit some black ice and I’m all over the road, like four lanes with one hand. And my…somehow, I did not like seize the wheel and panic or hit the break which is normally what I would do. But I just somehow…it’s like God had control of my hand and got me out of that and my car is fine and I’m still heading to work. I just haven’t been that close in a very long time to totaling my vehicle and I believe that the Lord had his hand on me this morning. And I just want to give thanks to the Lord for being alive this morning and calling in. And I’m just wishing you all a very Merry Christmas as I calm down. I’m just trying to calm down. I love you guys. Thanks for being my family and my friends and for praying for Izzy and Braden. There’s so much to be grateful for and be alive for. I love you guys.

Zechariah 12:1-13:9, Revelation 19:1-21, Psalms 147:1-20, Proverbs 31:1-7

Today is the 28^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you in that land in between Christmas and New Year’s, that land, that week that we kinda go through and it’s a little bit disrupted but we’re moving beyond Christmas and thinking about New Year’s and thinking about what we’re gonna do in the new year, what the New Year’s gonna look like. So, welcome to the land in between as we move into these last few days and bring to a close our journey through the Scriptures this year. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Yes, land is in shore. Our voyage across the year and across the Bible, yeah, we’re gonna…we’re gonna dock but we can see land. We’re still out here, a few more days to go. And, so, let’s press in and not only allow God’s word to speak into our lives and the decisions we’re making about our futures, but also to find this safe oasis. It’s always here for us around the Global Campfire. So, we’ve been reading from the book of Zechariah, which is what we will continue to do, well obviously until we complete it. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Zechariah chapters 12 and 13.

Commentary:

Okay. We were talking at the very beginning today when we were just getting together about how we’re in this kind of in between time right now, this between Christmas and New Year’s, this week in between where things aren’t…they’re just a little bit different and our hearts and minds turn away from Christmas, like we’re moving beyond Christmas and taking down all the lights and the tree and just…I mean some people keep them up for all the way through January, but I’m just saying generally speaking, we begin to move forward. And we begin to think about forward because we know that there’s a line called New Year’s Day. And it’s just another day. Indeed, it’s just another day but it is the beginning of a new year. And, so, it’s a line and…and we kind of live our lives in these 12-month spans when we think about things at this time of the year. What’s the next year gonna look like? And, so, we reflect on those things. We get contemplative about those things, the world over. We start to think about the changes that we need to make, the pounds that we need to lose, the strength that we need to gain, the spirituality that we need to dive deeper into, the story that we are living being more comprehensive or us just being simply more aware of what’s actually happening in the present instead of the constant regret of the past and the worry for the future. We think about these things during this year…or doing…during this week before the new year, right? And this is the time…like the programs are out, like there’s different programs looking back at what happened in the year 2020. And what a year to reflect back on because it’s been the weirdest one that I remember on a number of levels. It’s been a disruptive year that has given us a vision. Maybe we thought we were gonna get a different kind of vision but we got vision of reality in a lot of ways that revealed our fragility as a culture as a society as a humanity, but also the fact that there is work yet to be done in this world in the ways that we interact with one another. And, so, maybe some of that is incorporated into some of the things we would like to…you know…to address, or to engage with or to contemplate in the new year, things that could change the way we live toward one another. And if we consider it, a lot of our resolutions have to do with how we would make changes that would make our life a better life. Like they are really of the self-focused resolutions, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like if we need to honestly look in the mirror and examine ourselves and say, “okay, you know, here are the things that I would like to see happen physically. Here are the things that I would like to see happen spiritually”, then yeah we’re thinking about our own lives and that’s fine. But if that’s all there is, if we’re not thinking outwardly at all whatsoever well, then we may not be as comprehensive as we think we are. And, so, Psalms today, Psalms today gives us something to think about, “the Lord’s delight is in those who fear Him. Those who put their hope in His unfailing love.” It’s like that little sentence coming from thousands of years ago in a Psalm near the end of the Psalms bounces its way across history into our lap and then reorients us because we’ve been thing about losing 20 pounds, and now all the sudden we’re thinking about putting our hope in His unfailing love, which both of those things, both of those things are good things, probably, but one of those things is utterly essential. The Psalms says, “the Lord’s delight is in those who fear Him,” The Lord’s delight, that's…that’s a New Year’s resolution, becoming the Lord’s delight? And that happens as we systematically, constantly be aware and in awe and in deep reverence at who He is as much as we can know because He is so far beyond us. But what if that was like the primary thing? Like, yeah what if we have this list of things, we want to accomplish this year, things that are resolutions, things that need to change, things that we just need to buckle down and see if we can make it past Valentine’s Day on? But what if becoming the delight of the Lord lead the story, like led the way, was the primary thing? So, in the exercise, in the losing weight, in doing mental exercises or whatever, to have stronger mental abilities or mental health, what if becoming the delight of the Lord was the primary thing that we wanted more than anything else, and led the way into all of the other things? Maybe it would be worth just writing that down on the New Year’s resolution list that we are…we are forming at the top of the list, like this is the thing that I want, to be the delight of the Lord. I want him to delight in me above all else. Let’s give that some thought as we continue our journey through this week of contemplation, of thinking about the fact that we’re going to exit a year that we will never forget. And yet we still don’t exactly know what’s out in front of us. But being the delight of the Lord, having the Lord delight in us, that can be an objective no matter what’s happening.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. It’s coming from, Psalms, but it’s landed itself in our laps today and in truth it really does explain what our hearts longing is about, that we would know You, that we would be known by You, and that You would look upon us with mercy and grace and love and patience and kindness, like You always have. And yet so often we thought we were estranged from You or You were angry at us. We would love to live into a new year in which we knew that You delighted in us every day, every moment because we were aware of Your presence, and we respect it and at awe for what You are at work doing transforming us personally but shifting things in the world. Father, we’ve prayed for eyes to see and ears to hear all year long and we’re still praying for that, eyes to see and ears to hear, how to be Your delight. We must put our hope completely in Your unfailing love, like all of our hope in You and in nothing else to get there. So, come Holy Spirit show us how to live in that direction we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. Welcome to everybody that is like coming around and checking in and going, “yeah, this is this gonna be the new year” and just kind of getting off to a good ending to the year as we get ready to begin a brand-new journey that will take us through the Bible. Welcome aboard. We’ve been taking this journey since January 1^st of 2020 without any clue of what 2020 was gonna look like because it started like every other year, right? And then…yeah…then things began to shift and change, and we had an unusual and unforgettable year. And now we’re getting ready to go into a new year wondering what it will bring. And the good news is day by day step-by-step a rhythm gets established around here and we go through the Bible in community and it is striking, like stunning how often, how remarkably clear the Bible speaks into the things that we’re facing not only is people, but in our own hearts because it does really boil down to why we do what we do. And we get to explore so many stories over so many thousands of years that reveal the heart. And, so, looking forward to that. Welcome aboard. We’re getting ready for the journey of a lifetime. And then all of us who have been sailing through this year, gosh, weren’t there days we had to hold onto each other and hold on to the Scriptures for dear life? And were they not the life raft that we needed? Like, we’re here, we’re here. I keep saying that, but I keep saying that to myself. But it’s like we did navigate we did make it we are here, and I’m just looking for to all that we will experience together in the coming year. So, anyway dailyaudiobible.com, that’s the website, that’s where you find what’s going on around here.

And good place to know about is the Community section. This is where the different links to different social media channels that we are a part of are and this is how to get connected. And that’s also where the Prayer Wall lives. And that’s always happening, and there’s always somebody praying, and there’s always somebody asking for prayer…like it’s always on and always available to us. So, be aware of that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we move into these last couple of days of the year, then thank you profoundly and humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app and share from there no matter where you are in the world or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Radiant Rachel I’m gonn continue praying for husbands. If you would pray with me. Lord I pray that You will give my husband Andrew and added measure of faith today. Enlarge his ability to believe in You, Your word, Your promises, Your ways and Your power. Put a longing in his heart to talk with You and to hear Your voice. Give him an understanding of what it means to bask in Your presence and not just ask for things. May he seek You, rely totally upon You, be led by You, put You first and acknowledge You in everything he does. Lord, You’ve said that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, Romans 10:17. Hit his soul with Your word so that his faith grows big enough to believe that with You all things are possible, Matthew 19:26. Give him unfailing certainty that what You’ve promised to do You will do, Romans 4:21. Make his faith a shield of protection. Put it into action to move the mountains in his life. Your word says just…the just shall live by faith, Romans 1:17. I pray that he will live the kind of faithful life You’ve called us all to experience. May he know with complete certainty how great is Your goodness which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You’ve prepared for those who trust in You, Psalm 31:19. In Jesus’ name…

When upon life’s fellows you are tempest us when you are discouraged thinking all is lost count your many blessings name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. James, Alan, Austin, Alex, Ariana, Alyssa, Shirley, Toby, Trixie, Peppers, and me. These are my blessings after my house burned down last Sunday. It was considered a total loss. Our house of 24 years is no more. All of our memories, all of our Christmas presents, everything gone; however, this childhood song has gotten me through the week. Anytime I start to feel sad or discouraged or overly emotional I just start singing this song in praising God that we all got out safe, everybody is okay. We do lose one of our childhood pets but other than that, praise God we are okay, but we would covet your prayers during this difficult time. We are the Newell family. We live south of Atlanta.

Good morning family Soaring on Eagles Wings and from Canada on Monday December 21^st. This morning when I look through my window early my car was just covered with this white beautiful snow and I love to see the snow before there are footsteps or anything on it. Then the sun came through brilliant shining on the snow like a sprinkling of diamonds. And then I heard Dorothy the teacher from California called in and O your voice I love it. It’s so filled with animation and joy and I just needed to hear that voice. And I want to say Dorothy after we beat ourselves up for things we have said, left undone. But you know what, as we acknowledge them to our heavenly Father, he forgives us and I’ve had to do that many, many times. As you have requested, He is already sending new appointments your way as you care for and help guide your students. Being a teacher is an awesome responsibility especially in this Covid time with remote learning etc. etc. And I take my hat’s off to all the teachers. You now have to guide your students and influence them for good. So, I pray for you as you continue. Thank you all the teachers out there. I’m praying for you. I love…

Good morning DAB family this is Nadine from East to Midwest and today’s December the 21^st. I’m calling just first to say thank you dear God for our ministry Daily Audio Bible. Also, I just wanted to share with everybody __ that we think that we found Daily Audio Bible? It’s not random. God certainly has wanted to place this into our lives because I was listening to Walta the Burning Bush and, you know, I listened to her talk about how she’s been a member for 13 years and all that she had gone through. And my goodness I’m 59 and I sure wish I had found something like this, you know, but God had not…but I was ready for it I suppose. So, just know if we are…if you are part of it it is an honor a blessing and a gift to you. So, be strong in knowing that you’re part of a special kingdom here on earth. I wanted to pray for Nick who’s tired in his ministry. Stay strong my brother. We are at war. You can rest but don’t get up…I mean don’t give up. Long-term listeners who had stepped away for a minute. __ you said you came back and it’s like O what a new world. Yeah, that’s how it goes when you’re part of the kingdom. It’s like…it’s the difference between night and day as far as East to West. And you said you just loved us. It might sound silly. No. That’s how it goes for us. Victoria Soldier thank you. You remind me of my mom. Thank you for your wisdom and God bless everyone. Merry Christmas and I can’t look…I can’t wait to move into 2021 with you.

Hey this is Jerry calling from Duluth Minnesota it’s 330 in the morning on day 606 of my journey renewed journey with the DAB where God wakes me up in the middle of the night to spend as much time as he wants with me and with and I with him. I was listening to the holiday greeting and the first 30 minutes with Brian and Jill. Thank you so much for sharing your heart and sharing your word that God has put on your radar for 2021, the word Mend. And I couldn’t help but think of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and in the Amplified Bible in verse seven it says, “a time to tear apart and a time to sew together”. In the Good News Translation it says, “the time for tearing, the time for mending”. In the Living Bible it says, “a time to tear, a time to repair”. In The Message it says, “a time to rip out and another to mend”. In The Voice it says, “a time to tear apart and a time to bind together”. We’ve had a year of 2020 of tearing apart, and a lot of ripping and yet it’s exciting to see what God is gonna do in 2021 in mending us back together. God bless you all. Jerry from Duluth Minnesota.

Hello this is Shakira my name is…sorry. I just wanted to say that this has been a really good journey. I’ve been here since December 1^st, 2020. I want to say that am thankful for this family and Brian. I will always push for this because I feel like this is a path that everyone needs to follow. I’m really, really, really, happy you have chosen God and dedicated my life to him again because I did fall off a little bit. I started to lose faith and I had to catch on. I just wanted to thank everyone who’s been pushing me without even knowing me. God bless you all. Have a great day and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 

Zechariah 10:1-11:17, Revelation 18:1-24, Psalms 146:1-10, Proverbs 30:33

Today is the 27^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and an honor to be here with you today as we greet a brand-new week. And we probably are all aware that before this week is over, we’ll be greeting and entering a brand-new year. So, this is the last time friends that we get to reach out together and twist that knob and throw open the door and walk through the threshold of a brand-new sparkly new week for this year because we are entering the last week of this year. Including today we have five days left together in this year, which will bring us to the conclusion of our year of course but will bring us to the conclusion of the Bible. And, so, I get to this point every year and start feeling a little bit melancholy just a little bit of sadness is there behind it all. I know that we’ll just start a new year, this never ends. But I just feel it. And, so, I’m feeling it. I’m feeling it and honoring it. I’ll never forget this year. And, so, let's…let’s press in. Let’s not like fadeaway - it’s Christmas we’re exhausted now we gotta take all of these…these decorations down and all these stuff to do and try to find the flow and get back into the rhythm and think about the new year and make some New Year’s resolutions we got a lot to do. Let’s not just fadeaway. We talked about this. We talked about this back in October before anything got busy. We talked about finishing well, and we realized that to finish the next year strong we need to finish what we’re doing now well and thoroughly. And, so, let’s press in. This final week of the year we will read from the New Living Translation. Zechariah chapters 10 and 11 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into this shiny sparkly new week. It is another week of joy and celebration because we will be transitioning into a new year. And, so, Father as we move forward because we can’t start moving backward days and live our lives in reverse all the way back to the beginning of this year. We can only move forward. And, so, we are here considering this past year and we will be considering this past year for the next several days. This is sort of the natural flow of things. Christmas is over, our hearts are beginning to move forward toward the new year, and we begin to think about the things that need to be changed. And, so, we are looking into Your word for counsel, we are looking into our lives for reality, we are looking to Your Holy Spirit, who is often counterintuitive, for the truth. Where You will lead, we will go. We just need to know where You’re going and where You are leading, which requires that we be vigilant and aware and paying attention. So, we were told in the Proverbs today, again, similar things we were told yesterday. Yes, You beat cream You get butter. Yes, You strike the nose You get bleeding. So, then, yes, if You stir up anger, that’s gonna cause quarrels. And, so, we’re left Your wondering, do we want more that? Like, is that the goal? Is…is the new year designed for more conflict for more division for more quarreling in the world in our nations in our local regions in our cities in our communities in our homes? The answers probably that we would prefer less conflict. That seems to be the natural desire. And, so, we’re told very clearly by the voice of wisdom who has counseled us all year long, if You stir up anger and You’re gonna get quarrels. So, Father, Holy Spirit, come, let us not be stirring that pot. May we take our ladle out of that pot and put it over in a brand-new pot, one that is simmering peace, joy, long-suffering, kindness, all of the fruits of the spirit. Come Jesus we pray into all of this we ask in Your precious name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And I guess all things going on around here are aiming us toward these last few days of the year.

This voyage that we have been on, it’s coming, it’s coming to its conclusion and we can see the harbor. Like we’ve sailed all the way across the year and it’s been stormy seas and we made it. We made it safely and we’re gonna dock in a few days having completed the entire Bible together, having completed an entire year of life together in community. And, so, that’s what’s going on around here.

Of course, additionally most of us are thinking about what the next year might look like and we have this new word that we’re going to live into as we look into the Scriptures in the new year, “Mend”. It’s time. It’s time to heal. Yeah, this…this has been a hard year, but, you know for some of us it’s been a hard decade or a hard life. There’s always challenge, there’s always difficulties, things are hard but it’s time to mend. And mend is something that we have to allow to happen in us, but it’s also something we have to participate in. And we’ll see. We’ll see it happen in the Scriptures. We’ll be challenged to take steps in our lives. But, yeah, this is what we’re gonna focus on. This is what the new year is going to bring, a time to mend. And, so, very, very much looking forward to that as we…you know…we get to December 31^st and it really is the end of the journey, it’s just that another journey begins the next day. And it’s not…I mean we start over but it’s not starting over it’s moving forward. What the Scriptures are gonna look like in the next year in the year 2021 will be different than what it looked like in 2020. That’s just how it is. The Bible is just…it speaks to the heart, it speaks to the motives, to the why of things, to the story beneath it all, to the plot. And, so, it is always a relevant thing because we are all…we like…we do things because we are motivated by something to…to act. And sometimes those are colossal mistakes and sometimes they’re wonderful victories. And as we walk the path of wisdom…well…we can stack things in our favor I guess. We can…we can simply live true. We can simply be who we were made to be. We can be wise about what we decide to do and where we allow our heart to be taken. And, so, I’m really really looking forward to that. It's…it’s funny because we’re counting down these days but let’s finish well. Let’s not get into the new year before we’re in it. We can make some plans. We can have some goals. We can have agendas. We can think about what we want to do or become, but we do that first by finishing what we started this year. And in these coming days, we will reach the conclusion of the Bible and all of our badges in the app, as we finish all the different sections and complete the Scriptures together. All those things will go off and we’ll see that we’ve accomplished something, we’ve accomplished a journey through life and a journey through the Bible. And, so, yeah, that’s kind of what’s going on around here.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these last days of the year, if it’s mattered this year then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the app, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DAB family this is Nobody Gets Left Behind in Colorado. I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Grandpa Bob, Walta the Burning Bush, my sister in California, John from Bethlehem. I just want to thank you all for praying for my daughter Halo. And I wanted to give a shout out to Val from Vegas. You made my day the other day with your call in on the 15^th, brought tears to my eyes. Just love the excitement in your voice, it was just beautiful. I’m praying for Only Tony. This is just a short list of some of the people. I’m praying for Ron for the Philippines, Byron’s son Nehemiah, Rosie Great to be Free. I just love you guys and I love hearing your praise reports. So, praying is always a great thing to do especially when you get to hear all the things that God’s doing in your lives and I know He’s doing a lot in our lives and in our life and, you know, just gearing you guys pray for my daughter Halo was just beautiful and she just…it made her so happy to hear all of you. And I told her don’t call in just to hear yourself baby. Just you…you listen to what they’re telling you. You listen to the advice that they’re given you and you follow that advice. And, you know, she is praying for that little girl in her class. You know, just kind of rearranging her prayer to not be God change that person but God to fix all of the things that are happening in that person’s life that is making them broken. So, that was some great advice from all of you guys. I just love you all and I just have one little quick prayer. If you could pray for my brother Jeremy in prison. He’s been there for 18 years. Love you guys. Have a great day.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Anonymous in Tulsa Oklahoma. I want you to know that I wish each of you, those who speak, those who work behind the scenes, those who just listen a blessed Christmas. This has been a difficult, strange, interesting, awesome, phenomenal, remarkable, different, in all of these ways year and we’re going into a new year with still this just carrying this load, but the thing is is we don’t have to carry it. We can shed it and place it in the Lord’s lap and let Him carry it while we walk along with Him on our path in life. This path is called the journey of life and that it’s not ours to walk alone. He always walks with us as long as we ask Him to. Christmas reminds me of that, that He came to this earth to walk along with us, to show us how to walk in servitude, in patience and kindness and forgiveness and in love. And I love each of you remarkably differently and in all different kinds of ways. Thank you for coming. Know that you’re being prayed for whether you’re here speaking, behind the scenes, or listening. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Blessed Assurance calling in a prayer for Quiet Confidence in Virginia. I believe she called in on December 18^th stating that she had mental issues and she was really struggling. I’d like to lift her up in prayer now. Our heavenly Father holy holy holy is Your name. I lift up to You Quiet Confidence. I ask Lord that You protect her and comfort her, give her peace. Lord I ask that You draw near to her and in doing so she will draw closer to You. Lord God I…I pray that You protect her from the evil one for all that he says in her ear. I ask that you strengthen her husband of 24 years. Please bless and Lord and give him strength to continue to care for her. Give him peace and understanding love. Lord God will lift us up in our process Jesus Christ name. Amen.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family it’s Faithful Hope in the UK and I have my daughter with me, Exuberant Emily. And we’re going to sing to you. What about me? O, and we’ve got Happy Hana as well. And we’re going to sing to you. Okay. We are? [singing starts] I love you and you love me where a happy family with a great big hug and a kiss for me to you don’t you know we love you too? [singing stops]

I feel impressed to pray for someone who was specifically tonight thinking of committing suicide. O God has just laid this on my heart. So, I lift up whoever this person is to You. Lord Jesus You see every single detail regarding that situation. And Lord God, I pray a hedge of protection around that person – spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally Lord Jesus. I pray that You would give them hope where they feel so hopeless. Lord God may You give them a glimpse of life and their future could be with a clean slate that You give to us that You provide to us. Lord Jesus I pray God that You would give them just a vision of what it would be like to as they turn their eyes upon You look and look full in Your wonderful face. In Jesus’ name.

Hi this is Radiant Rachel I’m gonna continue paying for husbands. If you would pray with me. Lord I pray that You will give…